Ok, so my longest delay, if I remember correctly was about 9 hours in Huatulco, Mexico. We were supposed to leave at 2:30 and we were leaving at 12 AM. We were at the aiport 1 hour early so that I could photograph some planes and 2:30 came and no airplane. 3:30 and no plane. Ohh and no air conditioning system on a tropical destination. There were only ceiling fans so we were very very tired and sweating and well the announcement was made that the plane would arrive at 5. 5 came and nothing, then at 6. 6 came and no plane. Finally the report was that it was going to arrive at 9. So we were taken to a hotel to have dinner and you wanted you could stay and leave the next day. We decided not to wait and the airplane finally arrived at 11:30 and left as I told you at 12. Not a pretty good experience.

1. At Narita Airport in Tokyo, a 10am Philippine Airline flight just getting delayed. The flight board said the flight was now 8pm so I got an Egyptair ticket to Manila which left promptly at 4pm.
2. I had to stay overnight in Manila on another occation. Ninoy Aquino International Airport was on strike! they provided us with a hotel to stay overnight and our flight was delayed for more than 12 hours.

I had nothing but bad experiences (delays) with TWA. Only twice has my flight STL-HNL arrived/departed on time (but I am not bitter, I really do love TWA and the crews (with the exception of one FSM) service makes up for any delay!)

Longest delay was when TWA 1 was supposed to depart at 11:40 a. The 747 arrived late (it had a emergency landing the night before in LAX on the same flight). Then we boarded at 3 p.m. and waited another three hours, stuck on the plane while the flight attendant informed us that because President Gore (yes she said that) signed a new bill and we cannot depart till all baggage is accounted for. Though we our a/c was stuck at the airport gate for hours, and we weren't allowed off, but they did let us use the bathroom.

The only other interesting delay I had is when TWA pulled a brand new a/c (7673) to the gate last december, then discovered that the safety cards were wrong. So they wouldn't let us board till they duct taped the card so that we'll know that our seat cushion cannot be used as a floation device. The pilot made up the time in the air, and engaged the ABS brakes on landing in HNL so that he could SWA taxi the 767 for an ontime arrival. Arrived on time at 5:01, and I do thank the crew for the great service.

I've been delayed 9 hours @ JFK because TWA couldn't seem to find a plane. 13 hours @ EWR on an ATA Charter because the FA popped open the emergency door and inflated the raft. And just las year, 6 hours @ Lisbon (LIS) because the people couldn't seem to aim the fuel hose and spilled it all over the plane. That was an Air Portugal A310-300. I Have Pictures if you want it.

My worst one was Lufthansa, chicago, 1994. evidently their 742 in SFO had ingested a large bird and required an engine change. their solution was to fly a new bird all the way out to chicago from germany. When they decided to put us up in a hotel for the 13 or so hour delay, they then realized that the world cup was going on at that time, and the nearest hotel with vacancy was somewhere in wisconsin. On the plus side, I rode a brand spanking new 744 (City of Duesseldorf) with only about 40 people my own age.

Not the longest, but one of the hottest!! We boarded a TWA B747 going from Frankfurt to JFK, when the announcement came that one of the tires had to be replaced. We sat for almost four hours in the airplane, with an outside temperature of around 30 C; since none of the engines were on, there was no AC or anything that could provide any relief from the hot air inside the airplane, not even the doors were opened. Since this was an international flight and everyone, including their luggage was checked and ready to go, nobody could leave the airplane, at least that was the official explanation. When we finally got to JFK, we lost, of course, our Gate and were eventually ferried by bus to the terminal. There I found out that my connecting flight was long gone, and I had to sleep the night @ terminal, which was no trouble because it gave me the oppertunity to explore JFK.
All in all, a great trip for an aviation enthusiast. The landing on a TWA B747 into runway 31L @ JFK is something I will never forget.

Boeing727

PS: I have seen a few Air India flights scheduled from New Dehli to Frankfurt making it almost 24 hours after ETA.

Mines wasn't very very long. It was 2 and a half hours. We were at SJC waiting for a SW 737 to arrive from RNO (I think) and it never came. It didn't even leave RNO. So they had to ferry another SW 737 over and take us to our destination.

It was in FRA. I was supposed to leave FRA heading to JFK with PIA B747 at 10 AM. The plane arrived from Karachi in time and parked at the gate. But after 1 hour it was towed away due to a mechanical problem. It took them 6 hours to solve the problem and I left FRA at 4 PM, spending 8 hours it the airport.

My longest delay was 8 hours. In the early-mid 90's going to POS from LHR with BWIA. Fog had caused the inbound flight from POS to be diverted to Manchester and the delay was caused by the airline being unable to get a slot MAN-LHR. So instead of leaving at 12:30pm we left at 8:30pm.

The hard part was I am one of those people that actually does arrive 2-3 hours before the flight so I spent in all 11 hours in the airport.

At least I got a free three course meal at the Heathrow Excelsior. That was actually my last (of many) bad experiences with BWIA.

There was a bonus at the end of the flight though, we arrived at POS at 2am and the customs officials were too tired/sleepy to search luggage.

Thank you for your experiences... I have no doubt that there is one exempted from delays!! well, i think its part of travelling. And sometimes like the one who lost the connection, is fun, for you can find out new things, or whatever. For aviation enthusiasts it's great!!!

In 1986 or 87 I went to ATL to visit my sister who was in school at Georgia Tech. A huge snow/ice storm had hit the south a few days before I left. It was still cold when I flew over from Wilm, NC to ATL via CLT, but a couple days later when a was set to fly home it was about 80degrees! Not a good combination with still a nearly a foot of snow cover on the ground. When my sister took me to ATL about an hour before departure the visability was poor. In a hour it was ZERO. We were supposed to depart @2pm. We left at 8pm. The flight to CLT is usually about 55min. The pilots discussed diverting to Tri-Cities,TN or GSP,SC. However we did manage to land just before 10pm. I missed the connection to ILM, but the 10pm flight left at 2:30am and landed in ILM at 3am. TOTAL FOGGY DELAY about 10 hours!!! BTW the whole experience was on PIEDMONT. I miss those guys.